The Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades
by Mr. Oogie Boogie 94
Summary: I know most of you can't probably stand "my own version of the House of Hades", but please give this one a chance. If you know me, you now you won't be disappointed. Rated T just for safety.


I know you probably have enough of "my version of _House of Hades_", but I hope this one will be good enough. There will be some scenes in the Tartarus, some in Camp Half-Blood, but we will focus mostly on the _Argo II _and the crew trying to capture the House of Hades and open the gates to let Percy and Annabeth out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I DO NOT OWN _HEROES OF OLYMPUS _SERIES

**NICO**

**Nico's first time aboard **_**Argo II **_**was not as good as he imagined.** Especially after flying away from Rome, leaving Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus.

Even though the ship itself was magnificent, well-built and certainly able to endure a lot, the whole crew went silent through the entire flight. Nico recognized some people: his sister Hazel, Frank Zhang and Jason Grace - famous switched praetor. Two new faces were, as he was informed, from Camp Half-Blood - Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, who was _nothing _like a typical child of goddess of love and Leo, son of Hephaestus, who was like a hyperactive squirrel, high on sugar. Along with Percy and Annabeth there was seven of them, as the new Great Prophecy said.  
"So, Nico..." Jason said. "What are we going to do next?"  
Everyone turned their heads to him. Nico could felt some glares filled with suspicion. Jason, Piper and Leo didn't trust him. Hazel was waiting for any direction from him. Frank looked a bit confused. After all, they've just learned that Nico was the one who knew about both camps. Great, now he was the leader.  
"We need to set the course towards House of Hades." he said. "And find a way to open the Gate inside."  
"The Gate?" Frank asked. "What Gate? Actually, what is this House anyway?"  
"It's an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and Persephone, located in Epirus." Nico explained. "It used to be a location of my father's oracle – _nekyomanteia_, the Oracle of Death. In its main chamber, a passage to Tartarus is located. It is now sealed, but it seems that Gaea managed to open it enough to let dead souls wander the earth again."  
"So, we want to do the same thing?" Jason asked. "Open it, just a little bit, and let Percy and Annabeth out?"  
Nico nodded.  
"Exactly. We can't open the entire Gate, or Tartarus will break free and merge with the mortal world." he said. "Spirits and monsters roaming free amongst mortals, unable to die and more powerful than ever before."  
"Wait a moment" Leo interrupted. "_Tartarus _will break free? Isn't it just a name for a place? Why are you saying this like it was a person?"  
"Because it is." Hazel said. "Tartarus is _both _the darkest and most dangerous place in the Underworld and a _primus_ - primordial god. In his case, he represents the Abyss. Its dormant body is now serving our father as a prison."  
"_Primus _is Latin for 'primary', which in Greek is _protogenos._" Nico explained. "If we open the Gates of Sorrow completely, Tartarus would escape and shroud the entire Mortal World. He and Gaea together could be almost impossible to defeat." Nico added. "And I have an idea, what Gaea's next objective could be. When I visited Tartarus, at the very end I saw some of her soldiers in the place called Sky Ravine. She wants to resurrect her fallen husband."  
"Caelus the Sky Lord?" asked Jason. "Saturn's father? The one he killed to become the king?"  
"By our custom it's Ouranos and Kronos, but you're right." Nico confirmed. "I don't know why. After all, it was Gaea who made Kronos kill Ouranos. She was angry at him, for banishing her other children into Tartarus. After being killed, Ouranos fell into the ocean and from his blood and seawater mixed together Aphrodite was born."  
Piper looked at him.  
"Wait, what?! First god of the sky is my grandfather?"  
"Anyway." Nico continued. "Remains of Ouranos' body are being kept somewhere by Poseidon and protected 24/7. But I assume, there is a shortcut to that place through the Sky Ravine. After being awaken, Gaea would try to bring her husband back to life and rule the Earth again. And she will succeed. If she, Tartarus and Ouranos will be back alive, they will be unstoppable."  
"The Sky, the Earth and the Abyss." Piper said. "Bad combination."  
"What about other primordial gods?" Frank asked. "There must be some left."  
"There are, sure, a lot of them." Nico said. "Representing every aspect: sky, earth, day, night, light, mountains, aging, affection, destiny, generations, peace... But I don't think they are as powerful as Gaea, Ouranos and Tartarus combined. Perhaps only Nyx, Hemera and Aether could be enough."  
"The Night, the Day and the Air." Piper said. "Also a powerful forces."  
Nico nodded.  
"But right now, we must go to the House of Hades in Epirus." he said. "Too bad, we don't have any means of contact with Percy or Annabeth. We don't know when they will reach the other side of the Doors of Death. One thing's for sure - we will be there first."  
"I wouldn't be so certain about that." muttered Frank, looking through the window. "We have company."  
"Pigs!" yelled Leo as he returned from the upper deck. "Giant, flying, bacon packs!"  
"Oh, sweet!" said coach Hedge. "I still wanted to fight them after the Manhattan. Good punching bags. A' right, cupcakes. You handle this. Valdez - hand me the wheel."  
"Coach, are you sure...?" Leo asked, but the satyr pushed him away, and turned the wheel towards the enemy.  
Now Nico saw it clearly. There were six of them, big, fat, pink, soaring through the sky like the eagles, or pink flamingos which ate too much. One of them, on the lead, made a horrible squeal and belched a purple mist.  
"Poison!" Nico said. "It's the Clazmonian Sow and its children!"  
"Okay, we have bacon for dinner." Leo said, and Nico noticed his hands erupting in fire.  
"Don't!" son of Hades stopped him. "That toxic is also _extremely_ flammable. It can ignite the entire ship if too close."  
"So, what's the plan?" he asked. Nico looked around. The Sow was definitely difficult to kill. Only two people in history were able to defeat it: Theseus and... Percy Jackson. And now, they had to face it.  
"Let's slow them down." Nico smiled and begun to call upon the spirits.

The Hoplite spirits, armed with weapon provided by Hazel and Leo, along with a giant eagle (Frank) and Jason riding his Storm Spirit, called Tempest, rushed into battle. Their goal was just to slow the Sow, and her piglets, down.  
"Leo, man the ballistae!" Nico ordered. "Gleeson, full sail and charge!"  
"Sir, yes sir!" coach Hedge pushed the Wii controller down, taking full speed charging straight at the flock of pigs.  
Leo was the first one to shoot. The giant, flaming bolts took one pig down, turning her into a living pork chop. One down, five to go.  
Jason rode Tempest above the pigs and called upon some lightning bolts to pin down two of the remaining. Frank scratched one pig on the back and did a kind of a weird flying dance, until the pig got confused and fell. Nico's hoplites took down one piglet and the only wan remaining was Clazmonian Sow.  
"I think she's pissed." Hazel said. And this was true, as the mother belched more poisonous gas. "Guys, run for it!"  
Jason and Tempest were the first one to land. Nico ordered hoplites to keep the Sow occupied and angry it even more.  
"This way, she will turn her entire attention to the spirits." he explained. "We must run and cover."  
"Now we really need some smoke cover which smells like pork." Leo suggested, as Frank landed and changed his form back into human.  
"Maybe Jason can help?" Frank said. "A storm can be good enough to slow the pigs."  
"We can be of help too." Hazel said. "Nico and I can raise some metal scraps and earth to use as a cover."  
"It won't be a lot, but still it's worth trying." Nico nodded.  
"Let's do it." Jason said.  
Nico felt that combining the powers of Jupiter, Hades and Pluto is a massive force that can wipe out the entire island below them. And now, they want to use it to just slow down the pigs.  
Nico raised his hands behind the barrier of _Argo II _and focused, trying to gather as much earth and rocks as possible. It was hard, because Gaea was trying to stop him.  
_Ah, my poor, little son of Hades_ - Nico heard her voice, calm and husky as the dry ground - _You wish to play in my domain? I don't think so. _  
Some rocks raised to their level, but there wasn't a lot of them. Nico noticed that Hazel also tried her best, but only few chunks of gold and iron was seen.  
"Hurry up, Jason..." Nico said "We won't hold it any longer."  
Heavy storm clouds gathered around the ship and massive, strong winds created a barrier behind the _Argo II, _separating it from the Sow. Then, when she flew into it, she was pummeled by spinning rocks and metal chunks. This will definitely stop it for a while.  
"Good. We got... it..." Nico yawned. "Goodnight."  
After that, he curled on the upper deck and fell asleep.

When Nico woke up, his nose was attacked by the smell of bacon.  
He looked around the room. It was Percy's cabin for sure. The walls were blue with sea designs, shells and tridents.  
The pillow and blanket were also blue, and - of course - he was sleeping on the waterbed. He left the cabin and followed the smell to kitchen, where a stew was brewing.  
The entire crew was awake. Coach Hedge was chewing on a can and yelling to the TV, giving advices to the players. Piper was with Jason, giving him water, after all he also took great effort, and Frank was taking care of Hazel.  
"Good job, you guys." said Leo, after he returned from his scouting mission. His hands were still smoking and there was a smell of bacon around him. "Nothing is following us now. Next stop - Epirus!"  
Flight to Epirus was calm and easy. It took them two hours to finally lower the _Argo II _down. They landed in a rocky valley, surrounded by nothing but rocks, stones and dust. Very bad spot to land, as the surrounding was perfect for Gaea to attack. As they left the ship, they noticed a city down the hill. It was modern, alive city, with lots of harbors.  
"There's the city of Parga." Nico said. "That's means we're close. Leo, can you camouflage the ship somehow?"  
"…" Leo scratched his chin. "I think, I did install such a feature. Let me check."  
He left the wheel and went inside the engine room.  
"Maybe we may go down to the city and get supplies?" Frank asked. "We never know what awaits us in the House of Hades."  
"Nico, what do you think about it?" asked Piper.  
"I have an idea, how to get Percy and Annabeth back." Nico replied. "We can assure that Gaea had her soldiers to guard the temple, so there might be a fight, when we approach. If everything goes smoothly, we won't have to go through the other side of the Gate, so I say we pass on shopping, for now."  
"Good news!" Leo returned. "The Stealth Cloak is still active. The ship is save to be left here."  
"Good. So we may go. We must find the bank of Acheron River. It flows into the House of Hades, mixing with the other rivers of the Underworld." Nico said. "Also, I'm sure that the temple is underground."  
"I'm on it." Hazel said.  
"Me too." Leo said, making a small fire sprouting from his fingertip, like a lighter.  
"Okay, the more monsters we kill, the better." added coach Hedge, gripping his baseball bat tighter.  
They took a march through the tall grass and rocky grounds as they noticed a lone hill.  
"Monsters." coach Hedge said, sniffing towards it. "Yea, three of them. Good. Let me take them on."  
"Easy there, coach Super Goat." muttered Leo "We must see, what are we dealing with."  
"Strange..." Nico said. "I sense something weird."  
"More monsters?" asked Frank.  
"More like a ghost." Nico nodded. "We need to be careful now."

As they approached one of the caves at the foot of the hill, they noticed that some people were sitting on a rock before the entrance. Two teenagers.  
One had a large, Greek sword stuck in a ground before him. He looked around 15, or 16. If Nico had to guess, he would say that he was a son of Ares or Mars. Medium-height, well-developed muscles, tough look. He had light-blonde hair, tied in a short ponytail, warm but dangerous brown eyes and a nasty scar across the left cheek. He was wearing a regular white, sleeveless t-shirt, black jeans and brown shoes. He also had a small, silver pendant shaped like two crossed swords.  
His companion, sitting on the other side of the rock was definitely older. Possibly around 18, maybe even 19. He was tall, maybe even a bit taller than Percy or Jason, with some muscle but not overgrown like Ares' or Mars' kids. This guy certainly had some training. He had dark hair which were probably even more messy than Nico's and were giving the stranger a resemblance of a that evil lion from the Disney's movie. Some hair were able to cover upper part of his face, but Nico managed to look at his eyes. Pure emeralds. The greenest eyes he has ever seen. He wore a casual, white shirt, black pants, black shoes and a long, black overcoat, reaching down to his ankles. He was leaning on a sleek, ebony walking cane, with silver knob. On top of the knob, there was a green gem. The entire set gave him the appearance of a magician, which was quite funny and well-balanced with his warrior friend.  
"Hmm...?" Magician-stranger looked at them and, when he recognized who is coming, he smiled. "Hey, what took you so long?"  
"Probably went for something to eat." added the warrior-stranger.  
"Are you... the guards of this place?" Leo asked. "You know.. Gaea's guys?"  
"What?! Hey, dude, don't insult us." the warrior answered  
"Oh no, no." the magician laughed. "We're not the guards."  
"So... where are Gaea's guards?" asked Hazel.  
He pointed at his left, his right and then upwards.  
"Over there, over there and up there."  
As he said that, the three characters jumped in front of them. Big, bulky, different skin colors. They had clubs and swords. One was bald, one had a lot of hair, like a metal musician and the other, oddly enough, had Fu Manchu moustache.  
"Zehahahahaha! That's it, young heroes!" one of the ogres laugh "That's the last time you see daylight."

"That's going to be a tough fight." another person approached the two strangers on the rock. The female voice asked "Will they manage?"  
"Can't you guess, my dear?" the magician smiled. "You should."  
"Don't play games with me, Alex." the other person said. "Will thou join them in the battle?"  
"Relax, princess." the warrior replied. "Our magician just enjoy seeing demigods fighting for survival. And, if you ask me, I share his point of view."  
"Hahaha... let the test begin." Alex smiled and twirled his finger from which, with a snap, shot a stream of green mist.  
It was over in five minutes. Nico sheathed his Stygian sword, and looked at the pile of dust, which was already growing.  
"Quick, let's go! They will reform soon!" he said, as one of the ogres already created his hand back.  
Before they managed to do anything, an arrow whizzed next to them. A misty-white, ethereal arrow pierced the ogre's arm causing him to scream. After that, a quick slash of the sword, dissolved the reformed body again.  
"_**Hexagramma et Pentagramma, Malos Spiritus Sigillent.**_" They heard the chant, there was an echo and the monsters, still in dust, formed into a small purple bottle with magic circles around it. "_**Lagena Signatoria**_**.**"  
"..._Let the Hexagram and Pentagram seal the Evil Spirits_..." Hazel translated.  
"_A Sealing Bottle_." Frank added the ending. "You're a Roman?!"  
The person smiled and jumped down to them.  
"Magic is universal. I choose no sides."  
"But, if you must know, he's a son of Hecate."  
"A Greek?" Nico asked.  
"The name's Alex Spade. Nice to meet you." he smiled. "This is my companion, Jack Rakan."  
"If you want to enter the realm of Hades... Alex is the only one who can help thee." a voice behind Alex said. "He is a necessary component to open the Gates of Hades."  
"_Component_?" Alex repeated, clearly offended by this word. "My dear, you hurt me with those cruel, cruel words."  
"Isn't she always?" Jack asked.  
Nico stiffed. He _recognized _that voice. The voice that made him so angry and which ordered him to stay at Camp Half-Blood when it was the last time he saw his sister. His real sister.  
And then the owner of the hated voice has appeared. She was now just a spirit - an almost transparent, milky white being, but Nico could clearly see now her royal face features, caramel skin and slightly curly, dark hair reaching down to her waist. She also had a bow on her back, filled with ethereal arrows.  
Nico was looking at the spirit of Zoe Nightshade.

* * *

**A/N.: There we go guys. Everybody's waiting for "**_**The House of Hades**_**" and making their own versions, I'm going to do so too. Let's have some fun with my imagination. First of all - Zoe's back! Yes, I love this girl. Too bad we only had one book dedicated to her.  
Secondly - This is the re-written version, and I hope you guys will find it amusing. Stay with me~**


End file.
